Secret Identity: Red Shadow
by Black Scepter
Summary: Sonic the Hedgehog is the world's favorite hero, but with this comes people attempting to defeat and destroy him, including a shadow of his past...
1. A not so average day

Hello one and all, this is the sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog: Secret Identity. I don't have much to say other than enjoy. It takes place one year after the last.

Thank you Mike for betareading.

Secret Identity: Red Shadow

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><p>Chapter One: A not so average day.<p>

New Founders Base, Texas.

A large rounded older man, with a mustache, white skin, and dressed in a lap coat, with a simple white shirt and pants under it, stared into a room.

The room was filed with badly wounded people, guns scattered around the room, with one man standing tall.

The man clicked a button and spoke into it, "Good work… now, what is your name?"

Something the man had been asking the boy sense he woke up. The young man glanced over to the window, squinted his eyes to try and remember.

"My name… is…" He opened his dark red eyes and looked at the doctor, "My name is Shadow."

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><p>New York City.<p>

One year after Chaos.

New York, the most crazy and amazing city in the world, filled with as much wonderful things as disturbing. And on this early fall day it was like most.

SLAM!

The doors burst open to a bank as six men ran into the bank, their faces obscured by masks and their hands swinging around assault guns.

"Everyone on the floor!" A man screamed, "This is a robbery!"

And like all most Mondays, a certain Hero went to this certain bank every Monday to retrieve his lunch money from his parents' bank account.

That's right, me!

"Fill the bag with the money!" A man yelled, pushing a bag into the face of the receptionist.

A chaotic scene was unfolding, people were pushed to the floor, the men were yelling that they would kill everyone, and then suddenly someone stood up in the middle of it.

"Um… excuse me?" The voice grabbed the attention of the man who was bothering the receptionist, "I was here first you know, you can't cut the line."

The man turned around, he probably wasn't expecting what was going to happen next, "Do you have a death wish or- GHA!"

He stumbled back in shock, all of his allies were on the floor, knocked out, and a blue hedgehog was standing right behind him.

"SONIC!" He yelled, aiming his gun at me and pressing the trigger…

To let water fly out of it.

I laughed, "That's right, I replaced your gun! When you ask? Why just a second ago of course!"

As I finished my sentence and delivered many punches to the man, knocking him to the ground, knocked out cold.

"Don't worry fellow citizens!" I yelled out, posing for the press that was taking pictures outside, "I've come to, ah, no… that won't do…"

I paused, trying to figure out a better line to say, finally I gave up and prepared to speed away.

"Ah forget it!" I yelled racing away.

My name is Sonic Suai, I've lived in New York City for most of my life, when one day as transformed into a blue Hedgehog… probably wanting a better explanation, right? Well apparently I was picked by an ancient order to help bring peace back to the Earth, I wasn't their first pick, though. My brother Michael was their first pick, but due to the fact that he went missing at a young age I was their backup. Fun stuff.

I was trained by a couple people, Dart, who after the Chaos event went off to do… something, and Tikal, who sacrificed her life to bring me back from death. She gave her guardianship of the emerald to me.

My best friend, Miles, got wrapped up into the Chaos event too, was nearly killed by Albert Robotnik and Chaos. He's a genius who probably has been arrested and questioned by the government more than a dozen times. I owe that kid my life for everything he has done for me.

But now that you got the idea of my life so far I'm pleased to say my life has been much easier lately, no raging beasts running amuck in my city!

I stopped running once I reached my school, transforming back into my human self I looked at the school with a heavy sigh.

Things hadn't been the same since Maria moved to Texas, I still don't blame her, after all her entire family was killed off by Albert.

And to make matters worse, during the bank robbery I forgot to pick up my lunch money! I could've ran back to get it… but even with my speed I would be late for school.

Looks like I'm skipping lunch today…

The sun shimmered along the cool grounds of Toronto, Canada. It was cool around this time of year, frost frequently settled on the ground of this bio research planet with the initials of N.F.

Armed guards patrolled the surrounding area, an electric fence keeping anyone from getting over. It was a tightly held area.

"Everything is clear over here…" One of the guards spoke into the radio, scanning the area once more before turning around.

What he didn't notice was a shadow that zipped across the electric fence, and right past the armed guards.

The shadow swept through the property and into the front door, no one noticed it, camera's caught but just a glance of the mysterious intruder. The shadow suddenly stopped in it's pass, stood still for a moment, then ducked under a door and into a computer room.

It was dark, and clear of any security systems, the shadow suddenly was not a shadow anymore, but a man. Probably around twenty years of age with Asian facial features that was covered by a dark purple outfit that seemed to blend perfectly into the dark environment.

"I've reached the objective…" the man spoke into a communicator that was hidden underneath his mask.

"That's great!" A loud, over excited voice spoke back, it sounded really young in comparison to the other man, "Do you see computers!"

"Yes," the man spoke cold and calm, a complete opposite to his partner, "I'm moving to download the files."

"YAY, so much for hard job! We'll be swimming in cash once this goes out into the market!" The young boy cheered into the man's ear.

"Relax, we're not home free yet," his words fell to deaf ears for the boy was cheering like crazy on the other side. The man reached the computer and plugged a flash drive into the console.

"Uploading virus now…" the man said as a bar appeared on the computer screen, once the bar had been fully filled a picture was pulled up.

A large comical picture of a bee appeared on the screen.

"It's done." The man said, taking out the flash drive and pocketing it.

"YES!" The boy laughed, "The Queen Bee strikes again! MUHAHAHAHAHAH!"

"Yes, now pull up the live feed, I have a message for…" He stopped mid-sentence as the door behind burst open.

Men with machine guns burst into the room, spotting the man.

"Stop, intruder!" They yelled, lifting their guns and were about to pull the trigger when three Shurikens flew through the air, stabbing into the men. They yelled, but still tried to pull the trigger, but for some reason they could press the trigger.

"Don't even try…" The man said calmly to the guards, "Right now a poison is running through your veins… paralyzing your entire body."

The man tapped some buttons, a screen being pulled up.

"Don't worry though, it'll fade away…" He said with a small smirk, "I'll be long gone though."

The screen finished loading, the boy's voice coming through the communicator.

"You're on, man!" He yelled through, "Have fun."

"Of course…" He said looking up at the screen… it was streaming live, to the entire world.

I probably looked like a Zombie, seriously, sitting there in the cafeteria hungry and tired. It wasn't my day, I got a C on a history quiz and was warned by my teacher to 'stay focused' or he'll call my parents.

How humiliating…

"Sonic," a voice called out to me, I glanced over to see a, bright red haired, white skinned, teenaged girl dressed in a bright pink shirt and blue skirt run over to me. I smirked a bit, a good friend of mine who was just a bit younger then myself.

"Amy," I said as she took a seat by me, "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine," She said happily, waving a small paper around, "I was just asked out by that guy over there."

She nudged me, I glanced over to see a bulked up man sitting at a table across the room.

"Oh really?" I questioned, "Good for you, he's actually a pretty nice guy. Not too bright, but sure is nice."

She seemed somewhat down by my reaction, perhaps it's because I was so hungry that I decided not to ask _why_. She looked at me with a puzzled expression, it vanished after a moment, "You forgot your lunch money again, didn't you?"

"…Yes." I sighed.

"Don't worry about it," She opened up her lunch pack and took out some food, handing me a sandwich, "We'll share!"

"Huh?" I glanced at the sandwich that she placed in my hand, "Oh no, I couldn't-"

"No, no," She shook her head, "Go ahead. Mom always packs too much for me anyway."

"Oh, well… thanks." I nodded at her, she smiled and motioned for me to take a bite.

I took a bite of the sandwich, it was pretty good, I smiled to indicate I liked it which earned a happy 'yay!' from her. There was no more talking for a little bit, we just sat there quietly as we ate. I finished my sandwich and felt much better.

"Hey, thanks again for the food. I really…" I stopped, something caught my attention, the TV's screen that sat on the other side of the room suddenly changed.

"Really what?" She questioned, I stood up from the seat to get a better look at what was happening.

"Have to go for…" I answered her, stepping away from the table. Other students began to surround the TV, I shoved through a bit to see what was going on.

A man, voice distorted was on the screen, in the middle of what he was saying.

"I have hit dozens of other facilities like this all over the world, there is nothing the local authorities or security guards can do… I've actually gotten very bored, which brings me to my point."

A map was suddenly pulled up, it showed USA, "I'll be visiting this country now, I do hope their police can pose a better fight against me, but…"

A picture was suddenly pulled up, of myself, in my Hedgehog form of course.

"I publicly challenge Sonic the Hedgehog to stop me, perhaps add a little excitement to my job. So here it is Sonic."

I glared at the TV, this idiot just made the biggest mistake of his life for what he was just about to say.

"You can call me Espio, Sonic the Hedgehog… and I challenge you to stop me."

I growled, this guy challenged me! Big. Mistake.

"Challenge accepted." I muttered to myself as the image blinked off the TV.

"Bring it on."

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><p>So there you guys go, hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are wanted because they are the fuel for the fanfiction-writing-machine.<p>

In other news, I'll also be releasing shortly a small fic about Dart, AKA Knuckles. So stay tuned.


	2. Remember

Alright, huge wait for this chapter but it was a lot to get through. This one will take a depart from Sonic and focus more on Dart, telling about where he went after the fight, and a little bit about his past.

I thank you all for your reviews in the first chapter, it was nice hearing from all of you! And without further wait, go enjoy the chapter!

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><p>A young boy pushed through the ice cold rain, the rain smashed against his small body, trying it's best to freeze and break the boy.<p>

He was no younger than eight years of age, his soft brown eyes were filled with tears and fears, he couldn't see far ahead, for all he knew he could be walking for a cliff about now.

Finally he broke, collapsing to the ground, letting the rain pound him and the thunder laugh at him. He wanted it all to stop, he wanted the cruel, cruel world to just…

Stop.

Chapter Two: Remember.

A young man stepped through the dense jungle, sweat rolled down his face as bugs harassed him. None of that seemed to bother him, he was focused on where he was going.

His dark brown hair, deeply suntanned skin and brown eyes did their best to protect him from the harsh sunlight, his white T-shirt that read 'I *heart* New York' and light brown pants were covered in dirt and mud from the trip.

His name is Dart, and it had been five months since he had left New York City, after the Chaos incident he felt it was best to leave for a bit, he needed to get more powerful. So he left one morning and traveled back down to South America, he was heading home the long way.

He broke through the tree line, a dazzling waterfall fell in the background, it's loud noise, the fresh smell of water and the blue sky was just what he needed. Dart had enjoyed his time in the city no doubt, but this was where he grew up, this was his home and he much preferred the sounds of nature over the sounds of the city.

He stepped down the hill until he reached the end of the waterfall, it was a large pound, surrounded by colorful flowers and a wave of mist from the pounding waterfall.

"…Boy," Dart muttered to himself, placing his hand onto his forehead, "Talk about nostalgia…"

He said to himself, staring deeply into the pound, he closed his eyes for a moment before taking one step into the pound. The water moving softly against his dark skin as he slid into it, it was a good temperature, and to Dart it felt like heavy.

And like the waterfall falling onto the pound, wave of memories began flowing into Dart's head.

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><p>CLASH! Lightning struck not to far away from the young boy, echoing through the mountains that surrounded the forest. He stayed tightly all rolled away as the tree provided little shelter from the dangerous rainfall.<p>

He closed his eyes, whimpering with every lightning strike that came. Fear consumed him, images of scary monster making the noise and eyes watching him sprung into his mind.

Fear turned into desperation and he got up and ran again, his knees cut and bloody for all the times he had ran into large bushes with thorns, but he legs carried him despite the terrible abuse to them.

"M-Mom!" He screamed out as he ran, flashes of a beautiful woman with long dark hair echoing into his head, "Please! WHERE ARE YOU!"

He ran blindly through the forest, until he tripped and fell right into water. A river that was flowing downstream.

"Ahhhh!" He screamed trying to find footing, but the water swept him away effortlessly, he managed to keep afloat, right up until he was swept off a waterfall, "N-NOOOOO!"

He reached out, hoping for anything to grab him, to pick him up, he hoped for his Mother or Father to grab him, he wanted so badly to be in the arms of his parents. But that didn't happen. No, he just fell, faster and faster.

Splash!

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><p>Splash!<p>

A sudden noise awoke Dart from his thoughts, he glanced around but when he saw nothing terrible he closed his eyes….

SPLASH!

He opened his eyes once more and managed to see a pretty sizeable rock fly through the air and land into the water.

"What… the…?" Dart stood up from the water and tracked from where the rock flew from, there he saw it, four men standing on the other side of the water, one in particular was yelling at the others to keep going.

"COME ON, THROW IT FARTHER DAMMIT!" He yelled, he had dark skin, sleeveless shirt, short cut hair, and short dark pants, "How am I supposed to make a successful detective business WHEN I HAVE WEAK PEOPLE LIKE YOU!"

Dart wasn't sure what to make of them, nor did he want to bother with any people right now. He turned around to walk away when he stopped, on the man's shoulder was a tattoo… a crocodile. He remembered that mark, it brought back instant memories of the past.

"No…" He said to himself, fist clenched, anger consumed him, and before he noticed he had picked up a rock and threw it at them.

The rock sailed through the air, it's blunt rocked edge growing more dangerous as it sailed through the air, know one noticed it until it smacked into it's target.

"Wha-!" The man with the crocodile tattoo yelled when the rock collided into his head, with enough strength to kill or terribly wound any normal person.

"B-Boss!" The group of men yelled all together, their eyes moving from their boss to Dart.

Dart had a brief moment of regret for the strength he had thrown it, it quickly vanished when he remembered what that tattoo meant.

The man stayed unmoving for a moment, until he suddenly burst up from the ground, he face filled with rage and confusion.

"Who just THREW a rock at ME!" He eyes glanced between his men, at first thinking that it was something of a sick joke one of them had planned, until he noticed Dart, who's face was equally filled with rage.

"Who are you?" The man spoke, which was actually more of a growl.

Dart stayed silent, his eyes steady on the man's tattoo as he slowly fell back into memories…

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><p>Silent and peaceful looking, the boy drifted in the pool of water, the bright beating sun tearing down on the unmoving body.<p>

Fishes swam around him, creatures took drinks from the water, all without taking another glance at the young boy… until that it a small group of people began moving in on the pool of water.

A young looking, beautiful woman stepped into the water. The group never spoke to each other, yet even though there was a deep silence they knew each of their movements as if they were somehow relaying each and every thought to each other.

The young woman picked up the boy, holding her head to his chest, as if listening to see if his heart was beating. She lifted her head from him, looking at his face before finally speaking.

"Young man, you may open your eyes now," she spoke softly, her words being spoke with such grace that it was almost like an angel whispering into the boys' ear.

The boy opened one eye, he was more relieved to see a human then ever before in his life.

Apparently, the boy had survived the fall, but then decided that he didn't want to go any further, his plan was something that he would remain still until someone found him. Which seemed to work out just fine.

"Are you hurt?" The woman asked him while bring him to land.

"Um, ah," the boy couldn't get one word out, either from pain or shyness, "I'm fine!"

"Alright then," she began to put him down, but as soon as the boy's leg had touched the ground he yelped in pain, she picked him back up, "Your leg appears to be broken."

"I… fell off the waterfall," The boy said, his eyes glancing up the long fall, it was a miracle he was alive.

"Is that mean your parents are up there somewhere?" She questioned, his eyes growing cold with sadness.

"N-no…" He gulped, his dark young eyes filling with tears, all he could remember was fire, loud, ghastly screaming from his parents as they were burned _alive _from their attackers.

The woman picked up on this sadness, her eyes glancing towards one of her friends.

"He must be a survivor from one of _their_ attacks," the man nodded at her words.

"Who?" the boy asked, "Who attacked my parents?"

They were silent, the woman took a deep breath and responded to the young boy, giving a simple name for the faces he saw, "They call themselves the Black Crocodile, and have the war tattoos to prove it."

The boy closed his eyes, the pictures of his dying parents flashed in his eyes, as men with crocodile tattoos danced around their burning bodies.

He cried, tears streaming down his face, the woman held him close for comfort, muffling the poor boy's sadness.

But inside those saddened eyes were something else, rage, he wanted to see the people who were responsible suffer the same, terrible fate. Those were not eyes of a young, innocent boy anymore, they were eyes of a man, a man with revenge on his mind.

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><p>Dart's eyes were filled with rage, nothing compared to how he felt right now. Face to face, with a man with a black crocodile tattoo.<p>

"You… scum," Dart raised his hand, which was shaking with rage, "You're with _them_, aren't you!"

"Eh…?" The man questioned, it took a minute to see what he was pointing at was his tattoo, "Oh, this old thing? Yeah, so what about it?"

"You, killed them… You killed them all!" Dart yelled, rushing at him, swinging with all of his strength.

The man caught his hand, his face bored and seemly uninterested in a fight, "Oh please, I've got work to do. So, GET LOST!"

He threw him back with such force that he tumbled right into a nearby tree, that didn't stop Dart though, he got back up, which seemed to impress the man.

"Ah, so you can take a hit, can you?" He asked reaching down, grabbing a near by rock, a very large rock, "Let me pay you back for earlier then!"

He picked it up and tossed it just as hard, the rock flew through the air, Dart jumped to the left while the rock uprooted the tree he was standing next to. Such force he had, it made Dart question where he had got that power.

He thought about transforming, give him a good scare, but he decided not to… he wanted to break him with his real fists.

"If you're trying to scare me, you're doing a crappy job," Dart hissed, "Trust me, I've seen things a lot stronger."

"Stop messing around then," he motioned for him to come, "Bring it on."

Dart rushed at him, the water didn't slow him down, and when their fists collided it was like two brute titans fighting, it felt as if the Earth below them was going to give out and fall.

They each got good hits, Dart managed to get the first couple, leaving the man's head a bloody mess, while he wrestled Dart into breaking a couple fingers and wounding his shoulder badly.

The bright sun was now going away, it was setting as they fought, their bodies beaten and broke, they had been fighting for hours now.

"Die!" Dart yelled, his face slamming onto the man's jaw, the man barely flinched, delivering a powerful blow to one of Dart's ribs.

Dart stepped back, the man charged at him, taking the chance and catching Dart off guard he slammed him against the rock wall.

"Ahhh!" Dart yelled, the man was squeezing the air out of him, thinking fast he slammed his two hands right into the side of his head onto his ear, the pressure causing the man to drop like a bag of rocks.

"Damn!" The man growled, Dart took that chance and hit him once more, again, and again, he kept up the assault until the man fell limp.

"Just…" Dart raised his fist once more, but he was unable to deliver another punch, "Ah, forget it…"

He took a step back, and fell, collapsing right near him, he faced the sky taking in the beauty of this land, until his eyes shut…

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><p>He suddenly awoke, but the area was different, he was in someone's house, the area was well built, it was very clean and organized.<p>

"Where…?" Dart questioned, he could tell it was morning now, he began to get out of his bed when someone caught his attention.

"Ah, you're finally awake…" Dart turned… to see the man with the black crocodile tattoo.

"Y-You!" Dart yelled out, falling back, "What are YOU doing here!"

"Well… this is my house," the man said, pulling a boiling kettle off the burner and pouring it into a cup, "Tea?"

"No." Dart answered, the man didn't listen and brought the two cups to the table.

"You know the reason why I brought you here?" the man asked, taking a sip of his drink.

"Why?" Dart questioned, not moving from his spot.

"Because I had something to tell you, you know this tattoo?" He said pointing at the tattoo, "Well, I just wanted to tell you that I'm no longer part of that group… lasted a week, I was so disgusted that I left the first chance I got."

He was somewhat calmer, knowing at least this man probably had nothing to do with that night.

Dart got up and sipped the tea, he was dying of thirst and the tea felt good, "Thanks."

"It's more then you probably deserve, you busted my face up real good. Not to mention scaring off those guys I was training, how am I supposed to start a detective agency when you got no one to work with!"

"Yeah… sorry about that," Dart nodded, this entire conversation was awkward and Dart wanted to move on, "But really, I can't be staying."

"Fine," the man waved off, "Get going."

Dart thanked him again, got up to leave before stopping, "By the way, my name is Dart."

"…" The man didn't speak right away, finally replying after he took another sip of his drink, "Vector."

"Bye then, Vector," Dart stepped out, the morning sun gazing onto him as he walked away. He had one last bit of a memory flashback as he walked down the path.

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><p>The young boy was being carried off by the woman, they had agreed that they would take him in, care for him and treat them as one of their own tribe.<p>

"Young one, what is your name?" She questioned the young boy.

"M-My name is Dart," Dart replied, "And what is yours?"

"My name?" She asked, "My name is Tikal, and you shouldn't worry, I'll protect you from those men."

"Forever?" Dart asked.

The woman smiled, the light reflecting off her in the most splendid fashion, she truly looked like something of an angel to the young boy, and when she spoke her voice was so calming.

"Forever, I promise I'll protect you forever."

They stepped off into the jungle, Dart could vividly remember everything about that day. She taught him everything he knew, protected him from countless dangers, it brought sadness to Dart knowing he couldn't do anything to stop her death.

Dart closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath of the fresh, dense air before stepping through the forest again, the hero spoke to himself, yet he could almost feel his words carry on, hoping they would reach the person who was now long gone.

"I'll always remember those days," Dart said to himself, "I'll never forget how you protected me, Tikal."

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><p>And that's it, hope you enjoyed the look into Dart's past. Reviews are wanted, they keep me writing. While flamers will be utterly destroyed.<p> 


	3. The Worlds' Greatest Mind And

The echoing sounds of people shuffled along the dark, cold halls of the local county jail, New York City.

Large men dressed in orange were kept in these cells, as the men dressed in clean, blue uniforms monitored them. Then an abnormality happened, a young boy, probably no older than thirteen stepped through the area, flanked by two officers and a man dressed in a black suit, they led him into the interrogation room.

The young boy took a seat, taking his glasses off his head and lightly cleaning them, slipping back on while moving his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes. The tense situation was suddenly drained when the two officers brought in a plate of donuts, with a glass of milk. The cops nodded towards the boy, they clearly recognized the young man.

"Welcome back, Miles," one of the officers say to the young boy.

"Hey Frank, what's going on?" The boy question, his head nodding over to the man in the suit, "Who is he? FBI? US Marshals?"

"Homeland security."

"Ah, well that's new!" Miles gave a small smile towards the man, "Well, let's get this over with."

The officer stepped away, and the man in the suit came up, dropping a large file onto the desk. It was packed to the point of bursting, it had a name on it, it read: _**Miles Prowler.**_

**Chapter Three: The world greatest mind and…**

"Sonic the Hedgehog!" The voice blared on the TV, the newscaster had a breaking news scrolling across every channel, announcing to anyone who hadn't already heard about how some nut job challenged me to find him.

My arms were crossed and my face must have looked ridiculous, for it took every fiber in my body not to jump up and start cursing at the TV. He challenged me, ME! I've saved New York from ultimate destruction and he actually challenged me.

"_I should completely ignore him,"_ I thought to myself, "_Show how he's not even worth my time."_

I thought about it for a second, when I decided that was a bad idea, after all the news would probably show it as 'being beaten' or something. So I sucked up my pride and decided I would take out this man.

…and the best way to track him down was to enlist my most trusted ally, a thirteen year old kid named Miles.

School felt like forever, I was so focused on taking this guy out that minutes seemed like hours, the thought was killing me that the idea that jerk was out laughing his head off, while I'm sitting at school squirming in my chair. But not for long, for I had the greatest mind of the 21st century on my side. I slip out my phone and call his number, it rings once, twice, then it finally picks up.

"Sonic, thank goodness you called, you see I'm kinda in a-" Miles voice trailed on before I cut him off.

"Wait a second, Miles, this is important. Have you seen the news?" I ask.

"Not personally, no, but the word is all over the police station," Miles said with a small chuckle, "Let me guess, you want me to… you know, locate him."

"Yep." I answer, a smile appearing across my face, "But, uh, Miles? You're at a Police station?"

"Yeaaaahhhh, long story, but they're letting me go," Miles said it as if it wasn't any big deal. It seemed as if they were questioning him once every couple of weeks these day.

"I've got time," I responded, walking down the streets of New York.

"And money too, Mr. Son-of-a-successful-lawyer," He rhymed it together in a rather annoying voice, "If you want me to go after this guy I'm going to need three things."

"Which is…?"

"A coffee filled with as much sugar as possible, the newest issue of Spider-Man and a ride home," I rolled my eyes at his demands, but nevertheless, I agreed to them.

"Fine, consider it all done," I nodded, clicking off the phone.

_A trip to the police station it is…_

* * *

><p>After meeting his demands I hurried up to the police station, it didn't take terribly long to get everything. I stepped into the police department, looking around I noticed he was sitting down with a bunch of police officers around him, they were laughing and seeming to have a great time. Miles truly did know everyone in this place. As I approached him Miles noticed me, sitting up from the chair he shook everyone of their hands, saying goodbye to them he walked over to me.<p>

"Having a good time?" I asked, handing him the coffee.

He brought it to his lips and took a small sip, "Just catching up with a couple friends, been awhile since I was here."

"What did they bring you here for anyway?" I questioned as we left the police department.

"Oh, you know, one virus hits any government computer and they come looking for me," He shook his head, "Completely ridiculous."

"Well you did unleash that virus on them when you were three," I countered.

"I _allegedly_ unleashed that virus, besides, even if I did, it was by complete accident," He sighed, "Three years old, I barely knew how to put together a supercomputer let alone develop a proper virus."

"Right, right," I nodded, "So, I got everything you wanted, can you help me now?"

"Of course," he said, sipping his drink, "Let's get back to… the secret base!"

He then started humming some sort of cheesy old theme song as he ran towards his house, taking a deep breath I quickly followed after him.

* * *

><p>His secret base was known as his closet, a small little entry way in which all the clothes had been thrown out and it was now filled with a super computer, which probably was responsible for the massive electricity bill.<p>

"What happened to the garage?" I asked, knowing how all of his things were previously located in the family garage.

He grumbled, muttering something about a recent experiment, fire department, and possible gas leak… considering that their house doesn't even use gas I decided to leave it at that.

"Alright, so I've revealed the tape and confirmed that your friend was indeed in Canada, and since the border is WAY too picky to try to stop him there... I think we would be better off tracking where exactly he was going to hit next," Miles explained, clicking a few keys and pulling up a satellite feed, "Using the Tornado I've tracked every place he's ever hit, at least the ones that were reported, it all comes up to three location, including the most recent."

"They all seem to be centered in Canada…" I studied, watching as three red lights blinked on the screen.

"Correct, and they're all different companies too," Miles said, bringing up three company names, "But they are all in the same nature of work."

"And that is…?"

"Biological," Miles stated, "Could be something like corporate espionage…"

"How and why really doesn't matter, I need to know when and where he's striking next," I said while bringing a chair up to sit on.

"Right, right, so narrowing down everything I've tracked the biggest and most secured facility in New York City, it came up with two," Miles said pulling up another map, two blinking dots were on the screen, "He could be striking as early as tonight, judging the time it takes to get from Toronto to New York City."

"This is not going to be easy…" I sighed.

"You think he would make it?" Miles chuckled, "Don't worry about it, you've got me, I'll hack into their security cameras and tell you if anything comes up."

"Thanks, buddy," I said, getting up on my feet.

"You should head out and get some rest; I'll phone you when this guy pops up!" Miles said, motioning for me to go.

"Alright, that sounds good to me," I agreed, turning towards the door but not before saying, "And Miles? Thanks for helping me out."

"No problem…" Miles said, "Now hurry up and go, something tells me we're about to have a very long night…"

* * *

><p>It was on high alert, the entire facility was like a very stick of dynamite that was about to explode, and Espio was going to make it happen…<p>

But of course, not an actual explosion, that wasn't his style, no, he planned to make Sonic the Hedgehog look like a complete and total idiot. He began his approach toward the facility; he seemed completely unnoticeable with the cover of darkness, which was exactly his hope, reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small communicator, slipping it onto his ear he spoke into it.

"Are we ready?" He asked, his deep, dark voice echoing into the communicator.

"Allllmost!" Replied a loud, hyper voice which was completely contrasting to the other man's.

"Just hurry up, I want to get in and out. Fast," the man stated, his eyes centering on a security camera which regularly scanned the surrounding area.

"And we are…" there was some clicking on the other side of the communicator, "SET!"

Suddenly the cameras shut off, a smirk went across Espio's face.

"Time to move…"

* * *

><p>There was an overwhelming smell, it kinda was like a pizza, but it was way to strong and disgusting smelling.<p>

The smell came from Miles's room where an incredibly weird looking oven, with lots of different buttons on it, sat by his bed.

"Times up," Miles said, slipping on a pair of goggles, rubber gloves, and a lab coat, "Test fifty two of nuclear powered oven commence."

He flipped over some statistics of it, "The core is still cool, no nuclear leaks… this might be it!"

He flipped open the oven doors and carefully slipped out a large pizza, it was actually very delicious looking. He put it on the table, took some tests of it and give a thumbs up.

"It seems to have a safe amount of nuclear contact…" He ran a knife over it, taking a slice and taking one bite out of it, he waited, chewed, and then spit it out, "Note to self: more cheese."

Suddenly there was a beeping, Miles quickly around, checking all sorts of experiments to see if it was responsible for the beeping.

Finally his eyes stopped at his computer, he gulped, quickly jumping over to it he scanned the computer screen.

"This isn't good…" he growled, "Someone's shut off the cameras."

He began typing a code into the compute and in a second the cameras were back on, but for only a moment, for it was quickly shut off again.

"Well, well…" Miles said, cracking his knuckles, a devilish smile appearing across his face, "This 'noob' has no idea who he's dealing with, does he?"

He began typing in complex codes, his fingers gliding across the keys like a musician playing his guitar, "I'm the kid who hacked the Pentagon, while retrieving enemy nuclear codes, AND ordering eighty two pizzas to be delivered to the Russian President's personnel residence."

With a few more clicks the cameras were back on, with enough time for Miles to see a single man expertly hop the fence.

Miles laughed, reaching for his phone he dialed Sonic's number, as he picked it up Miles said two simple words; "It's time.

* * *

><p>Sleep was completely useless, between the thoughts of the upcoming battles and the burst of crying from my baby sister made it impossible to get any real sleep.<p>

So I wasn't the least bit disappointed when Miles called me, I was waiting for this moment, like an athlete right before the big game, I was pumped to prove this guy wrong.

In moments I had transformed into Sonic the Hedgehog and I was off, into the night, and in mere seconds I had arrived at the location. I stopped on the nearest building, getting a better look at the facility.

"Miles," I said, holding up the cell phone I had brought with me, "Do you still see the guy?"

"No," Miles spoke back, "Someone is doing a really good job at keeping me from finding him, last time I saw him he was about to enter the facility."

"Gotcha," I nodded, scanning the area, it was too dark to make out anyone, but I could tell where the entrance was.

Leaping down onto the ground I quickly sped and jumped right over the fence, landing just a couple feet from the entrance I sped right past the guards and into the facility.

"Any progress?" I ask, hoping Miles had any idea where he was going.

"Yep," I said, the clicking of keys present along with the strain of his voice, as if this battle for control of security was physically hurting him… it might have been.

"He's heading to the main control room, take two lefts and continue to go straight, you should see- GAH, he did it again you're on your own, Sonic!" Miles growled, I clicked off the phone and followed his directions.

Two lefts and going straight brought me to the control room, the door was wide open, I entered it and looked around. Two guards were on the ground, knocked out, standing at the main control panel was a man, dressed in a heavy brown cloak that covered his entire face.

"And to think I thought Sonic might actually catch me…" the man spoke to who I guessed it was to his computer guy… or girl, or whatever, I SHOULD BE FOCUSING!

"Ahem…" I cleared my throat; the man froze, then suddenly turned around, two things flying from his hand.

I quickly dodged to the left, which to him, appeared as if I just had disappeared and reappeared.

The flying star he had thrown clattered to the ground, he looked shocked, but only for a moment, his face returned to the cool and controlled personality.

"Sonic the Hedgehog…" the man growled.

"Espio, was it?" I smirked, "I suppose it's only fair to warn you; I'm taking you out, right here, right now."

He smirked back, throwing aside his dark cloak to reveal a man completely covered in what looked like a ninja outfit, many sharp weapons hanging by his side… but what shocked me the most was this, a Chaos emerald, yellow, hanging at his side.

"That's not possible," I gasped, staring at the emerald, I was sure that Miles and I had put all seven into someplace very safe, there was no way he could have gotten one, "How do you-"

He laughed and grabbed the emerald, it started to glow and in a mere moment two more of him had appeared like an illusion, they laughed harder and spoke, "Sonic the Hedgehog, you have no idea what type of trap you have just fallen into…"

I gulped, tensed up, and prepared to fight this man with everything I had. It's been a long time since I've battled someone with the power of a Chaos emerald, oh well, I suppose this fight isn't going to be as easy as I had hoped…

* * *

><p>That's it, enjoy!<p>

I hope to get another one out before the end of the month, my goal for now on is to get three out a month. Which I think seems pretty reasonable, no promises though!

Meanwhile, I'll bore you with my goals I someday wish to see involving the _Secret Identity_ series_:_

__See someone do some epic art of Sonic Suai.

Get enough followers to open up a forum, completely dedicated to info about upcoming chapters, and such.

Open a Pizza shop named 'Sonic's Speedy Pizza'. Just joking of course, I wonder if I could be sued over it? :)

See a TV show made of it... what? I could be sued for THAT, too! No faiiiirrrr!

Meet a Sonic Suai groupie... that would be fun.

Get over a dozen reviews for a single chapter... *hint, hint.* :)

Anyway, I've held you guys back enough, hope you enjoyed the chapters. Reviews are what fuel my writing engine while flames will BURN in it.


	4. No Questions Needed

Japan, 3 months ago.

"Fight!" Yelled the referee of a sumo wrestling, on his call two very large men began charging and pushing each other.

The crowd who was very into the game didn't take notice to the young Japanese man wearing a dark business suit, slip towards the back of the room.

"I'll never understand it…" Another man stated towards the Japanese man, he was leaning against the wall while puffing a cigarette, the smoke the flew through his mouth danced around for a moment before disappearing, "Why do your people take such fascination in such a game, Espio?"

The man, a Caucasian wearing an outdated white suit with minor stains doting the once expensive, nice clothing. He turned towards Espio and smiled broadly. Episo was basically his polar opposite: dark, thick, short black hair that just barely fell over his left eye, a sleek, black suit that was fresh off the dry cleaners and the way he held himself meant he was 'all business' while the other man seemed to take annoyance in these little meetings.

"…" Espio cared not to respond to the ignorant man, instead he joined the man next to the wall, pretending to watch the game in attempt not to draw any unneeded attention, "I'm here for the information, nothing else."

"Okay, geez," the other man shrugged while pulling out a file and handing it to Episo, "Once you complete it we'll forward the rest of the cash to you."  
>Espio slipped the paper out of the yellow file, examining the paper he made a quick glance towards the other man, who simply shrugged.<p>

"I hope you live up to what they say: 'No questions, no matter what'?"

Espio made one last glance at the man, who smiled back in such a sick evil way that it made Espio sick. Slipping the file into his suit jacket and giving it a safe pat of insurance, Espio nodded towards the man before saying...

Chapter Four: "No questions needed."

"Where did you get that…?" I ask while my mind raced with a mix of confusion and rage.

I couldn't understand any of this; we had placed all seven emeralds somewhere safe from the reaches of people like this. How could he have possibly have gotten one?

Did he steal one of ours?

Is there more than seven?

As my mind raced with so many questions Espio simply walked around me, tossing the emerald up and down like it was some sort of toy!

"Enough!" I growled out, ready to lunge at him with any given second. He stopped tossing the emerald and looked over at me as if I were some child and he was the older and stronger bully that had just stolen my favorite lunchbox.

He shifted his head towards the left, his thick, long hair moved with him. Despite his mask that shrouded his face I was _sure _that he was smiling at me.

A moment of silence as he just stared at me, no one moved… at least until he tossed the emerald once more into the air and spoke out, "You want it? Just try and take it."

Oh it's on. I jumped at him, fist clenched with the intent if delivering a knockout punch complete with shiny yellow stars spinning around his head.

"One…" Espio spoke softly while twisting to the right, my fist flying right past him. Utilizing my speed was nearly impossible, in this small enclosed area I'd probably end up hurting myself more than doing any sort of damage against him. However, I am able to use my speed to deliver some quick attacks without jumping all over the place.

My fists probably looked like blurs, flying at him with incredible speed that no normal person would be able to dodge…

Normal person… right, he sure looked normal. But there was no possible way; he dodged every single punch I threw at him.

"Two, three, four," he spoke out in a smooth, calm voice as he dodged my fast moving fist, "Five, six, seven, eight, nine…"

I cringed as each fist flew past him, I focused with everything I had yet he seemed to move around it as if I were simply swinging at fog!

"…And ten." Suddenly he grabbed my fist and with one swift movement he brought his other hand down, causing a loud and incredibly painful snapping sound as he broke my arm.

I should be screaming, perhaps even dropping to the floor and crying, but I didn't even have time for that. He moved from breaking my arm to grabbing me by my neck and squeezing hard.

"Interesting…" he spoke as I struggled to break free, with no ability to breathe it seemed as if I were struggling uselessly against him, "I gave you ten tries to land a strike on me yet you produce no results. Thankfully, you being an animal provide you with no advantages over my strikes…"

I'd like to describe his over confidence, yet disappointed face in greater detail but at that moment I was beginning to lose all focus. Was I going to be defeated that easily? Were all my previous fights for nothing?

Oh wait a second, did I forget to mention to Espio what I was now? Right, I didn't just use the emerald… I was the emerald, in the most basic way of saying it.

I clenched my fist, my eyes began to change colors as I began to feel Espio's grip around my neck weakening. Just as I was about to unleash a Chaos Gale against him he leaped away, sensing that I was about to do something that he himself had not expected.

The Chaos Gale unleashed with a viscous bite, whipping up around the surrounding area, causing Espio to loose footing and fly straight back into the wall. Got to admit, it felt good to smack him around a little.

Espio didn't move from where he was at, his body remained completely still by the wall. I narrowed my eyes towards the man, briefly feeling a fear build in the pit of my stomach.

I had kicked around plenty of people in the past, but never had I used Blue Gale against a regular person. Had I… killed him?

"H-Hey!" I called out, hoping to see any sort of life in the man. I wait for a moment with no such answer from the man, "Oh you've got to be kidding me…"

I take a couple steps forward, carefully nudging the man with my foot, "You better not be dead-"

I stopped speaking as soon as I felt a cold knife press against my neck, the cold steel catching my attention right away.

"Did you really think you could defeat me by simply strength alone?" Espio's voice whispered to me from behind. The 'Espio' that was lying in front of me seemed to vanish in thin air – it was like magic, it was completely unbelievable.

"How did…"

"'I do that'?" Espio laughed before using his other hand to show the emerald to me, "This power is… incredible. The thing I can do with it? Nothing can stop me, not even New York's very own hero…"

Espio suddenly grabbed me and spun me in the direction of the computer, "And now the entire country will know about it…"

The computer monitor turned on, revealing a bee with a loading bar under it reading 'linking webcam to nightly news'. My eyes widened and before I knew it, it clicked on.

"Smile for the camera, Sonic…" Espio said while patting the side of my cheek, "You're on national news."

Miles shifted in his seat uncomfortably, the noises on the other side of the microphone didn't sound good at all. As soon as he heard 'national news', Miles instinctively ran for his remote – dive bombing into a pile of dirty clothes where he was SURE it was, throwing side clothing until he managed to find the object he was looking for.

Flipping to the nightly news, he managed to catch a brief glance at the news anchor before the feed switched to the dark room of the facility that Sonic and Espio were fighting in.

"Hello!" Espio yelled out, his voice was dark and almost… sickly, "Tonight I will achieve something extraordinary. Tonight I will break the faith that you have so foolishly put in this 'hero'."

Espio pressed the knife closer to Sonic's neck. Miles felt like he couldn't breathe for a second, he feared that any moment now he would watch his best friend be killed. Miles pounded his fist against his desk as if the act of protest would cause Espio to stop.

Espio held his other hand up above Sonic, the emerald holding tightly in his hands, "Tonight is the night… I win."

He swung his fist down, the emerald slamming straight into Sonic's head. Collapsing Miles's best friend to the floor.

"Sonic!" Miles yelled, sitting up from his chair. He could feel tears build in his eyes, he couldn't believe what he was seeing…

The world couldn't believe what they were seeing…

Sonic the Hedgehog had lost to regular human.

* * *

><p>New Founders Base, Texas.<p>

Three people sat around the TV, watching repeats of the feed where Sonic the Hedgehog was defeated by a masked man.

"This is surely disappointing…." One of the men said, running his hand through his thinning hair, "Does this mean we'll have to get our hands dirty?"

"…We can't let this go on any longer," the other man said, waving his hand at the TV as if it would respond to his frustration, "We're losing more and more with every passing minute!"

"Then perhaps…" The final man began, leaning forward in his chair, "It's time to put 'Shadow' for his first real mission…"

* * *

><p>Texas, Far Land's High School.<p>

The ringing of the school bell echoed across the halls, unleashing waves on waves of teenagers scrambling to escape the confining walls of their school. Between the various teenagers scrambling to get out, one purposely waited in the back of the crowd, patiently waiting for everyone to clear out while she flipped through her phone with little conviction to do anything else but look preoccupied.

Her name was Maria Robotnik, a sixteen year old with long blond hair, bright blue eyes, fair white skin and was dressed in her school uniform that consisted of a white button up shirt that was tucked into a long blue skirt that just barely reached her knees. She was the 'good' girl that everyone has known once in their lives, goes to school before promptly returning home to further study, never gets below an A- and never blows off her school work for friends. Friends was a hard thing to come by for her, being a transfer student from New York, Texas was a rather odd place and she found it hard to slip into the already tightly formed groups. This was primarily the reason why Maria hung back until everyone cleared, because it kept her out of problems and problems were bad!

Finally, the sea of moody teenagers cleared out allowing Maria to begin her exit. Pushing away from the wall she had called her friend she shoved her phone into her bag and quickly began her movement to exit the building. One thing she did enjoy was that when nobody noticed you, NOBODY noticed you, not the jerks, jocks or girls that made it their life's goal to make her life a living hell, those are these she never missed of New York. There wasn't much she actually missed from New York, all of those memories are better left in that city.

Exiting into the city she inhabited, she quickly began her walk towards the small house her grandfather owned. She avoided the city's buss at all cost, it was always crammed with people and stank of bodily odors that thrived in tight spaces of human interaction. So Maria kept to the same path as always – one left, two rights and a straight walk all the way home. It was her known path, it had become a muscle reaction, really.

Apparently other people have noticed this habit of hers; two older teenagers from her school had been following her now for the one right she had taken into the alleyway. Maria hadn't not noticed this of course, but she didn't feel too threatened as the two teenager were from her school, one of them had been trying extra hard to get her attention. Half way into the alleyway the light haired boy finally called out to her.

"M-Maria," he yelled, his voice cracking out of nervousness, "Hold on a second."

Maria took two extra steps, just about to round the corner when the man called her name out. She stopped in her place, turning slowly to face the two of them, one which was snickering in attempt to hold back an entire burst of laughter while the other one had a noticeable amount of sweat dressing his face.

"Oh," Maria said in a surprise expression as she glanced between the two, locking her eyes onto the one that called her, the sweaty faced one, "It's Cole, right?"

"Y-Yes," Cole nodded, adjusting his jacket in nervousness, "My buddy and I were wondering-"

"Cole was wondering!" His friend corrected through snickers.

"_I _was wondering if you'd like to hang out with us? I-I could buy you a drink and we'd all have a lot of fun," he was trying hard to sell his offer and Maria found the attempt very cute. However, accepting such an offer would break the social bubble she had worked hard to surround herself in. If she were to accept suddenly she would be in their social circle, and the idea of friendships and relationships actually scared her...

"Thanks, Cole," she suddenly spoke, causing the young man to look up at her with wide eyes, "But I can not. I've got too much school work to attend to. I'm sorry."

She turned to exit the company of the two boys, thinking it was best not to prolong this embarrassing moment. However, as she turned she came face to face with a much taller man with long dark hair that was shrouded by a dark hoodie he sported, a little overdressed for this weather. His eyes scanned the three, falling aggressively onto the two boys.

"Everything alright, Maria?" The man asked, his voice hissing with so much anger that it actually made the two boys take a step back.

"N-No trouble, sir!" Cole quickly said as he and his buddy turned and made a run to the end of the alley.

The man scoffed at the two before glancing back at Maria and giving a somewhat disapproving look, which was returned with a wide eyed, innocent eyes that might have melted any man's heart.

"You shouldn't take alleys," the man said before turning away from her, "It's just asking for trouble."

"Trouble?" Maria laughed, speeding up a bit to keep up with the man. "How could I be in trouble when I have you, my knight Sir Connor!"

Maria's entire demeanor had changed, all that bullshit she had told herself about staying out of social circles was quickly brought about when she remembered she was already in a social circle. A small one maybe, but Maria was absolutely infatuated by this young man named Connor. He worked with her grandfather as some sort of super genius that her grandfather spoke very fondly of and have had him over for dinner many times. Connor and Maria had become close over time, he had devolved a bit of a protective attitude over at upon learning of her hardships back in New York.

"I won't always be here," Connor replied to her praises with a mute expression of conflicted feelings.

"Whoa, whoa," Maria said, quickly running ahead of him and stopping in his way, "Why are you talking like this?"

Connor looked at Maria, her expression focused and demanding. He sighed, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets and giving the information she wanted, "I'm leaving for a job." Her eyes widened at the words 'leaving', "I'll be back. But it'll be a little awhile, nothing too long. The company's just having some hardships and they want me to make sure it all returns to normal."

Maria wanted to complain, but that would be... too much emotion. She swept that aside and simply smiled at Connor. "Fine... well, good luck. Just, you know, text me whenever you have free time."

"I will."

"Which, by the way," she started, looking over at him with a rather worried look, "when are you leaving?"

"..." his silence was all she needed to know. He was leaving right away. She kept a still face and simply gave him a friendly hug.

"Good luck. Stay out of danger, wherever you are heading!"

"Come on, Maria. There isn't anything dangerous in what I do..."

* * *

><p>I've been knocked out many times in my 'career'. But this time was different, while I had that same groggy feeling as I opened up my eyes it didn't last as long as before. I was able to become aware faster, remember what had happened and start thinking of my next move.<p>

Speaking of which, I needed to make that decision now. I was surrounded by a group of doctors who had their fingers all over me, checking my wounds and generally just making sure I was alive. Which would have been all well and good except as I looked over I saw one of the doctors positioning a needle right above my skin. I couldn't let them have my blood because I didn't want to know what they'd do with it!

"Hey..." I said, suddenly catching the doctor's attention, "I'm going to give you three seconds to get your hands off me. No offense, I'm just allergic to 'people'."

The doctors stared at me for three brief seconds before a voice suddenly gave them orders, "Don't let him go, we've got questions for him!"

The voice came from New York's finest. This was annoying, I didn't want to hurt these guys, but dammit the three seconds I gave them was well up! I was actually charitable because honestly, I gave them easily six second.

"Alright boys, time's up!" I slammed my foot against the fool with enough force to pull myself up from their grasp, with the sudden movement the doctors backed off. The police man on the other hand hunched over, held his hands out to try and grab me as if I were some puppy trying to make a run for it. It was a nice try but before he knew it I was gone, zipping my way out of this facility and back to the sweet outdoors!

Perhaps they'd try and give chase against me, if so it would only last a couple of minutes until they noticed that I would have gotten to where I already intended to go. Where did I intend to go? Where else but my good buddy's place, it was my 'panic' area, and boy I was in a panic!

Somewhere between the facility and Miles's house I began to become aware of all my injuries, most notably my broken arm that was screaming out for me to halt and secure it. I pushed past that pain and kept my course, dodging people on the streets before finally coming into his neighborhood, literally skidding to a stop on top of his grandmother's roses. Add thorny thorns to my list of injuries!

I made sure to transform back to my human self before throwing myself against his window, giving it a loud knock to try and get him to open it up faster. Through the shades I could see Miles almost fall out of his chair, leap over his bed and throw open the window with such a force that it caused a loud 'thunk'.

"Sonic!" Miles said, worry clear in his voice, "Get in, quick!"

I pulled myself into his room before falling flat onto his floor, giving a loud groan as my broken arm put up a very painful fuss.

"Miles," I began.

"Y-Yes, Sonic?" he said, grabbing my arm to try and pull me up. Of course it was my broken arm.

"My arm is broken!"

"S-SORRY!" Miles yelled as he dropped my arm, which fell roughly to the ground causing me to hiss out.

"WHHHYYYYYY!?" I whine as I pull myself up, Miles frantically apologizing as he wheeled his desk chair over to me. I slumped into the chair, taking the towel offered by Miles to wipe my forehead of sweat, "Can you do anything about this?"

"You mean do I have some super high tech machine that will magically fix your arm?" Miles asked as he pulled out a box from his desk and lugged it over to his bed where I was just a mere distance away.

"Yes?"

"No, of course I don't have that..." Miles shook his head as he pulled out a couple of materials, "Take off your jacket."

"Shit..." I hiss as I slide my jacket off, "It wasn't supposed to go down like that..."

"I figured..." Miles merely added as braced my arm, "You're really going to have to head to the doctors over this."

I wasn't against the idea, after all I would just be one of the many teenagers with broken arms. Not the blue hedgehog that they were looking for, that's for sure. Although perhaps it wouldn't be great that I share that same name with that said blue hedgehog...

"I'm leaving this one up to you, Miles," I decided, earning a rather annoyed look from the kid.

"Okay, I'm going to give you a choice," he began tightening the brace, which earned a weak squeal from me (I'm man enough to admit), "You can go down to some sort of free clinic, have the good work done without much questions while I try and find more information on the guy that beat you up... or you wait here, I do a terrible job and you die from some sort of infection."

"Whoa. That got intense."

"It's possible."

"FINE." I give up as I push myself up from the chair, wobbling a bit before finding my balance, "Do whatever you need to do. Find this guy, okay? He's ruined everything I've worked to build up..."

I put one foot outside the window, glancing back at Miles who merely stared at me with blank eyes.

"What?" I ask suddenly causing him to shake his head.

"Just..." he started, turning away from me and shoving his hands into his pocket, "Be careful. There are more important things than your image."

"Not much, Miles. Not much." I say simply before taking a final step outside the window. I'm now off to find this free clinic Miles spoke of...

* * *

><p>Whoooaaaa, it's been awhile sense I've posted a chapter. I just had a burst of inspiration that I needed to get out. No idea if anyone is still reading this, but boy I hope you guys enjoyed it. I'm going to try and get more out in a reasonable time.<p>

If anyone is still reading this, give me your thoughts and review! Thanks!


	5. Nothing Bad Will Happen

Well it's been awhile. College, work and other fun stuff keeping me from writing BUT I've got some cool news to announce - a dub of Sonic the Hedgehog: Secret Identity has been made.. Rate and comment, give them your feedback and admire some of the cool work they've done. Simply search 'Sonic the Hedgehog: Secret Identity (a STH Audio Drama) EP1: Pilot.

Finally I spend a lot of my free time running a fantasy roleplaying site known as Thelotia: City in Crisis. So if you're interested in writing and hanging with me, give it a try. There's an intense amount of lore and a lot to do there. If you're looking for it search Theloita: City in Crisis Proboards

Without further advertising I'd like to thank everyone for the continued support for this fanfiction. I was about 15 when I first started Secret Identity and now I'll be 21 in June. A bit nostalgic as of late I guess, anyway - ENJOY.

* * *

><p>The storm had kept New York bogged down for weeks now, washing into the streets and flushing any source of movement at all. It had been years since the city had seen such a long lasting storm and nobody in their right minds were taking to the streets.<p>

The only people who dared to enter the roads were those who had no choice or the foolish who doubted the force of the storm. Which brings us to the Prowler family who were intent on making the journey out to New York City to visit their parents for the coming Easter holiday. 'Hell or high water' the father would start, 'We're making it!' So despite every warning not to go, they set off onto the streets. But things were getting dark now and the storm seemed to only grow with each passing second.

Which brings us to the second family, the one who had to be on the road. Having left earlier in the day when things had not been so bad, Sonic and his father were now making the venture back to New York City. Sonic's father tried to keep a bright smile for his young son, but not being able to see a couple of feet in front of you was horribly bothersome! What he didn't realize was that just a small distance away was the Prowler family's old station wagon, having an equal amount of tough time keeping on the road.

"Perhaps we should pull over," Piped Mrs. Prower, her eyes locked on her two young children in the back. Mr. Prowler merely waved off her comment, perhaps afraid if they were to pull over his pride would be lost at the hands of nature.

"We'll be there in a bit." He added.

He lied. They were a good forty minutes from the city.

"In no time at all, you'll see."

He lied again.

The next few seconds were merely a blur, something ran out in front of them causing Mr. Prowler to slam the brakes which merely caused the car to slide against the deep puddles of water that covered the road. They slid into a rock that tipped the car over, with a helpless scream from the children and a yell from Mr. Prowler the car landed on its back, still having a bit momentum left to slide further... right off a small hill. The car rolled a bit before tumbling into a tree, causing a crunch sound as the car suddenly met its end at the hands of a large tree that merely shuttered against the force.

This was all witnessed by Sonic and his father who stopped their car a good distance away as they helplessly watched the car tumble off the hill. Sonic's dad didn't think very long, he threw on the brakes and leaped out of the car, phone in one hand and the other trying to block some of the incoming rain.

"I'm coming with you!" The thirteen year old Sonic yelled out, unlatching his door only to receive a sharp look from his father.

"Stay in the car!"

Sonic didn't want to listen, but truthfully he was happy he didn't have to rush out into the darkness. Leaning onto the dashboard, classical music still humming in the background as he watched his dad slide down the hill. With his father out of sight his heart began to race, the young Sonic could barely sit still, squirming nervously in his chair as every and noise fueled the many scenarios running through his mind.

As Sonic stayed in the car his dad made it to the wreckage, having called the emergency services he did what he could to check on the family. Throwing open the driver side he came to the sight of a mangled mess that remained of Mr. and Mrs. Prower. He cursed, about to stand up when he heard the small cries of two children. He quickly threw open the back door, revealing the two young children in the back who were dazed and in tears.

Sonic's father bit the front of his lip as he saw the two children, part of him leaping in joy that there was life while the other mourning the fact they were now seemly without parents. He took the two children away from the car, climbing the small hill before returning to his car. He opened the back door and had the two children crawl inside the car. Sonic, who craned his head to look at the two beaten up kids, gave a weak smile.

"Don't worry, everything's going to be okay. Alright?" Sonic assured as the rain patted ruthlessly against the car. To the younger child his words meant nothing, it was all muted to her as she cried out for her parents. But through the tiers of the six year old Miles, he heard Sonic's words and for some reason believed the young teenager.

Staring up with wide eyes, Sonic spoke once more...

**Chapter Five: "Nothing bad will happen. I promise."**

"Yes!" Exclaimed Miles who quickly leaped up from his desk chair, a burst of joy filling the nine year old boy as he seemly reached the goal of his work. "Haha, I knew this 'bee virus' wasn't as good as it was made out to be."

He cracked his fingers and bent over his computer, giving a couple more taps on the keys before freezing in place, his eyes scanning the screen as his smile quickly fell to a frown. "Oh no..." He muttered as he tapped a few more keys, inputted a few lines of code before cringing at the sight, "No,no,no,no!"

Alas, another dead end. "Have I been defeated!?" Miles exclaimed as he ran his hand through his messy blond hair.

"No, no, I have to keep working. Too much is riding on my success here. Besides, it's only..." Miles paused as he suddenly noticed the sun peaking through the blinds. "What time is it?"

Suddenly the door to his room burst open with such a loud thud Miles was sure the door handle had gone through the wall. With the full force of the morning sun now shining into his room Miles could only shield his sleep deprived eyes from the burning light that flooded into the room.

"Miles!" Screamed his younger sister, Cream Prower.

"ACK, stay out of my temple of zen!" Miles ordered as the 'blinding' light shined into his room. The young girl marched in wearing a rather large sun hat, polka dotted dress and white sandals. Her face had an expression straight out of hell.

"It's time to go!" The little girl demanded, hands at her hips and eyes squinted at her older brother who merely stared at her with a blank stare that meant he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Uh..." Miles started, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes, "Where?"

"Don't joke with me Miles, you don't ever forget anything." Cream pouted, "Grandma made you promise you'd take me to the park today!"

"Oh." Miles blinked, the memories of such events suddenly washing back to him, "I was wasn't I?"

"Yes!"

"Well I can't!" He quickly added, swiveling his chair back to his computer, "I'm far too busy!"

"Miles!" She yelled, stomping her foot down as if the force of her action would make him get up and take her. "You promised!"

"This is more important than a morning at the park!" Miles defended, "Now go away and close the door, you're killing all the mold I'm growing with the light you're letting in!"

"Grandmaaaaaaa!" Cream cried quickly rushing down the hall.

'_Oh please ignore her...'_ Miles hoped as he waited for a reaction by his Grandma. A little bit of time went by, perhaps she decided to side with Miles this time!

"MILES!" Suddenly came the booming voice of his Grandmother, echoing into the room with thunderous proportions.

'_Oh perfect...'_

Before Miles could voice any opposition he was out the door and on the streets, laptop in one hand while the other was being held by Cream (who to make Miles's defeat worse insisted that he hold her hand). The early morning sun stung his sleep deprived eyes causing him to squint in attempt to see anything beyond four feet.

"I can't wait to get to the park," Cream started in her usual excited tone of voice, "First I'm going to swing because last time I was there I just started to learn how. I don't plan to go very high because that will make me scared, will you be there to catch me if I fall off, Miles?"

In his head were scrolls upon scrolls of code, constantly repeating over and over. It was so expansive, Miles knew what every combination of code meant but was unable to understand what it was trying to tell him.

_'Keep scanning,'_ Miles thought, his brain working like a overwhelmed computer.

"Miles!"

_'Figure out the patterns...'_

"Miles!"

"What!?" Miles exclaimed, the numbers in his head suddenly interrupted by the virus known as Cream. Except there was a legitimate reason as to why she broke him out of his trance, standing in front of the two was a tall, attractive red headed fifteen year old girl that had been living in Miles's neighborhood for as long as he could remember – her name was Amy, and Miles had not been expecting to see her at all.

"A-Amy!" Miles exclaimed, quickly running his hair through his messy hair in attempt to look somewhat respectable. "W-What are you doing here!?"

"You're out in front of my house, Miles."

"Yeah, I know that. My question still remains."

Amy gave Miles a confused look who quickly regretted his fumbled line of questioning. He quickly glanced away, "Uh, yeah..."

Amy looked over at Cream and gave a soft smile before speaking again, "So where are you two heading?"

"Comic book store-"

"The park!" Cream exclaimed, leaving her poor brother trying to scramble away his embarrassment. Although why he felt a comic book store was a way cooler place to hang out is rather unusual.

"Yeah, we're heading to the park..." Miles sighed, giving a defeated look.

Amy glanced back at her house, you could hear shouts from her parents escaping the weak walls of her house. "You don't mind if I come with you, do you?" Amy asked, to which Cream, oblivious to the yells quickly piped in.

"Of course! You can push us both on the swing!"

"I-I don't need to be pushed on the swing!" Miles fought back defensively.

"Of course!" Amy nodded, taking Cream's hand as they began to walk towards the park.

"Guys, seriously. I can swing by myself..." Miles voiced, as if repeating it would help, "Guys..."

"Come on..." Miles hissed as he sat crossed legged on the bench, laptop resting on his legs as Amy and Cream played in the sand. "How can this Queen Bee be so good!"

Time seemed to pass without a notice for Miles who busied himself on trying to track the code back to the user. He didn't even notice Amy approach him and lean in to look at his computer.

"Watcha working on?" She asked, causing Miles to fumble and quickly exit out of the program.

"N-Nothing!"

"Nothing?"

"Well, I was checking my Facebook... messaging people..." He trailed off as a disbelieving Amy stared on, "I was messaging Sonic. Okay?"

Well that's at least believable... you get wi-fi around here?"

"This is New York, there's always someone's wi-fi I can hack into." Miles shrugged off the question with a small chuckle, as if suggesting such a thing was ridiculous.

"Oh..." Amy accepted that, which of course was the actual truth. She leaned back onto the bench, watching Cream closely as she played with other kids her age, "How is he?"

"Who?"

"Sonic, silly." Amy said with a laugh that made Miles quickly regret asking such a question.

"He's fine..." Miles nodded, "Busy. He's always busy..."

"What's he do that make him so busy...?" This line of questioning was going deeper than Miles had hoped it would, honestly he couldn't think of an excuse as to why Sonic was so busy all the time.

"Oh, well, he's always flying out to see Maria." That wasn't a complete lie, Sonic had gone out there once or twice to visit. Yet Sonic had admitted that is seemed like he just reminded her of the past events, so he stopped going out to visit her, not wanting to make the pain already felt worse.

"Oh..." Amy trailed off, "He's changed so much. I don't even see him at school anymore."

"Yeah..." Miles agreed. Sonic had changed so much since the attack by Chaos, seemly consumed by his 'image' he seemed completely oblivious to his life outside Sonic the Hedgehog. It was like he didn't even care about hanging out anymore, his job consumed every moment available he had.

"Oh!" Amy snapped her fingers, "You know what we should do? We should have a big movie night like we used to, he can even invite those two friends of his, what were their names...?"

"Dart and Tikal..." Miles said, closing his eyes in thought.

"Yeah, he can invite those two! It'll be fun!"

"Amy..." Miles began, choosing his words carefully, "Tikal was killed in the attack on New York last year."

"O-oh..."

"Yeah..."

"A lot of people were lost there." Amy nodded, remembering the events correctly. Nobody could forget the terrifying moment that changed the world.

"Too many..." Miles muttered, shaking his head to try and move the memories away.

"B-but that still doesn't mean we can't get everyone together. You should text Sonic, okay?" Amy asked, to which Miles thought a good long time before nodding.

"Yeah, I'll try to get him to agree. I'm sure he'd like that."

"Excellent." Amy said while clasping her hands and giving a sweet smile. Amy gave Miles a pat on his shoulder before sitting up from the bench. Placing her hands on her hips she looked forward as Cream called for Amy's attention, "Well it looks like Cream wants to swing. You in?"

Miles adjusted his glasses awkwardly as he stared up at the beautiful redhead, "Uh, no, I don't swing. I'm _nine_ now, you know."

"Oh alright," Amy huffed in a playful tone, "Suit yourself."

Miles gave a sigh of relief as Amy walked away from him. He always found it difficult to talk to any girl (well, ANYONE actually) that he wasn't super close to. Miles had always been really close to Sonic and Maria and the days they'd spend hanging around in Sonic's house were some of his favorite memories... Miles would give anything to go back to the simplicity of those days.

But those days were gone, the innocence was washed away by the bloody confrontation with Chaos that aged the entire city. Even the laughter in the park today wasn't how it used to be...

Miles typed away on his laptop as the noises around him began to fade away once again, thankfully he wasn't as absorbed in his work to miss the sight of a hulking man start walking in his direction. At first Miles ignored it and figured it was just one of the many people in the park, but the look on his face was so... so very intimidating.

He felt uncomfortable by the man's presence (didn't exactly have a kid walking around did he?) and Miles dug himself further into the computer to keep from staring at the hulking figure of death that man presented. Of course he couldn't stop, ever couple minutes he'd peak up from his laptop and make a glance to see what he was doing. About the third time around when he peaked up from his laptop he noticed the man was actually gone.

"Well... that was weird..." Miles chuckled, about to go back to working when someone suddenly sat beside him. That same, hulking man as before. Miles felt his gut clench and his fingers tighten around his laptop as the man stared directly at the young boy.

Without a word the man dug his hands into his jacket pocket, '_what is that, a knife!? A gun!?' _No, it was an envelope and he handed it directly to Miles before getting up and walking right away.

"Okay... no THAT was weird." Miles exclaimed as he watched the man walk away. Glancing at the envelope he cautiously opened it up, pulling out the paper and unfolding it...

...It was an add, for a new casino that apparently opened up last year in Las Vegas. The building was a most unique looking thing – as was many casinos in the city – built as building that stretched high into the air with a white dome on top, painted white with flashing ears that protruded from the top and flashed a neon pink. Miles thought it was an ugly building, but a building that would surely have caught the eyes of anyone who passing by. There was a note written on the back of the add, written in some of the most refined and beautiful handwriting Miles had ever laid eyes on that it actually took him a moment to stop admiring the writing and instead read what it was written.

'You don't know who I am but I know you. More importantly, perhaps, we have a mutual friend. I was simply shocked when I saw the news – I didn't see it, I was informed and I later saw the highlights – that our mutual friend had been beaten in such a cruel and humiliating way. As it happens... we share a common enemy as well as a common friend and I propose we meet. Bring Sonic with you, as we have much to discuss'.

At the bottom of the page was the imprint of a kiss left in rich red lipstick. Miles read the note over several times and was honestly flabbergasted at the entire thing. He thought he should know who it was as it seemed so familiar.

"Espio?" Miles echoed out, wondering if this was some sort of elaborate trap. He brushed it aside, knowing that he was far too careful to have made a mistake. Far too careful for some other hacker to find him.

This was something he couldn't push away though or hide and Sonic needed to know about this. Miles gritted his teeth and brought his sight back up to Amy and Cream. The two girls seemed happy and had an abundance of energy playing about... that unnerved Miles; he had work to do... people to find... and Sonic to help.

* * *

><p>"You think it's a trap?" I asked, glancing over the note once more in some fruitless attempt to try and decipher some hidden message.<p>

"I was hoping you could tell me that." Miles said, tilting his head to the side and fixing his glasses. I had come back to Miles's place later that night after receiving several texts from him. I had wanted to return earlier but I had spent a great deal of last night getting put back together in some dingy clinic and I had to spend some time at home as to NOT worry my parents. Hiding my wounds was a painful experience and the talk I got about keeping my grades up and being responsible was even worse. They have no idea what I do... the level of responsibility I undertake and the amount of people I save EVERY day. They would have me focusing on mathematics and English like every other kid.

I look up from the paper, setting it down as my frustration surged. My head felt dizzy – perhaps more from the pain meds I had received than anything else. "I honestly have no clue who this could be."

My first thought that it was a trap, than in some weird turn of a thought I imagined it might have been Maria but that didn't exactly make sense GIVEN SHE DIDN'T HAVE A CASINO. My thoughts then turned to Dart... and I was even more confused as to why I would even have considered that as a possibility. Clearly I wasn't thinking right.

Miles motioned to his computer screen, "Well I did some research; the owner of the company belongs to one Drake Gallham."

"Sounds like a dude."

"A pretty good assumption."

"I'm smart like that." I shot a smile towards Miles as the kid dug through internet pages.

"But there's really NOTHING on this guy. No pictures, no previous investments and barely a school record that I could reasonably believe to be this man. I don't think he exists."

"So it's for sure a trap." Espio was looking to finish the job, was he?

"Kinda sounds like it..." Miles sighed, "But... there is something so familiar about that note and I'm pretty sure it's not Espio."

"...What are you suggesting?" I asked.

"That, we you know... take a trip to Las Vegas and take a closer look at this place." Miles said with a weak chuckle and cheesy grin. I narrowed my eyes and it dropped, I might have scolded him for rushing me into a trap so early after getting my ass handed to me... yet I couldn't possibly be mad at him. My narrowed, annoyed look turned softer and my own grin appeared.

"Okay..." I give Miles a nod, "But first... first I'm gonna need some sick new shades."

"...What for?"

"AND A BLACK TURTLE NECK."

Miles and I lock eyes before we both proclaim, "BECAUSE ALL GOOD SPIES WEAR BLACK TURTLE NECKS."

Well hell... if we're going to be doing some spying might as well fit the part, right?

Yet in the back of my mind I wondered what would happen if Espio was there...? Could I really take him on...

Some foreign feeling swirled in my stomach – doubt... and maybe even fear.

My head was spinning and I felt a bit sick but there was no turning back now.

* * *

><p>Whooooaaaa, who is the messenger?! Will Sonic and Miles blend in as spies!? Find out... sometime. ;)<p> 


End file.
